Initial Estimate guideline for a straight green-screen Axiant migration

[Pickering, John (NORBORD)]

Greetings Wilbert

If you go with Eloquence and Quick running in a command window as Blue
suggests then I don't think Axiant will buy you very much. [Sorry Cognos
sales folks :-] It would make a nicely organized repository for your source,
etc. but I don't think it will help much with the migration.

Eloquence comes with a schema processing utility which will build you an
Eloquence database which matches the Image database on the 3000. The schema
can be easily generated with Qutil on the 3000. Eloquence offers Image
compatibility so you don't need to change dashes to underscores or get rid
of any arrays. Eloquence also has a utility to move the entire database --
both schema and data, building the new database on the fly. I've seen a demo
on a demo sized database but have never used it on production sized stuff.
If you've got ksam files in your application Eloquence can replace those
too.

About the only thing you'll want to do to your PH source is remove the mpe
group name if you are in the habit of using them in screen, subscreen, run
or build statements. But this can be done simply with any decent editor.
Same story for any syntax that has changed between the mpe version of PH and
your target version such as the subfile size option that Glenn mentioned.

The biggest task you'll have is replacing the stuff in all the places where
you touch mpe. Glenn's excellent report on a migration hints at the
complexity of the batch, report and print environment.

Going this route probably offers the fewest changes as well as the quickest
and cheapest path.

Regards,
JWP

-----Original Message-----
From: VISSERS,WILBERT (HP-NewZealand,ex1)
[mailto:wilbert.vissers@hp.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 5:58 PM
To: 'powerh-l@cube.swau.edu'
Subject: RE:Initial Estimate guideline for a straight green-screen
Axiant migration


Thanks Blue, Mark, Jon,  

Have spoken to our Customer and PH8.41 and Eloquence is now a base-line
option if the business decision is 'go the minimum cost option'.  Thanks
that was good.

The IT Manager wants the migration to go to the platform that allows modern
stuff to evolve best, because he expects that the percentage of people
seeing the value of Windows/Gui/Web will grow soon.  We need to be in best
position to respond.  Also the competitor option is all new stuff.

Decision on the database is down the track a bit, either SQL Server for
perhaps ease of future integration with Microsoft-written apps which the
customer has, or Oracle for robustness.  or Eloquence.  See the future of
the application as evolving into a mix of Competitive-advantage, local
efficiency modules,  interfacing with standard ERP modules.   Current app is
well-designed and modular so this looks feasible.

Need that ballpark guidance on Axiant's automated conversion tools.  All we
have to compare with so far is migration projects done in other technologies
'by hand', and PH conversions where significant proportion of the project
was spent writing home-grown code-altering utilities. 

cheers
Wilbert